With a 2018 World Car of the Year award topping accolades for design and safety, Volvo’s XC60 Recharge PHEV goes prize hunting for emissions and tech.

My last experience with a Volvo was back in 2019, when the automaker highlighted the Swedish penchant for replicating Nature with floating curved consoles, wood trim and sculpted surfaces.

When I learned I was to collect the XC60 PHEV, I guess I was expecting more of the same, and I was more than a little surprised when everything in the Volvo flagship looked so, well… normal.

As I recall, the XC60 was the first Volvo in New Zealand to introduce the concept of City Smart braking and if memory serves, included other features which border on being semi-autonomous.

For safety, this was brilliant. For aesthetic appeal, not so much, but other Volvos cover this base, so the handsome XC60 became a stalwart showcase for Swedish science rather than sensuality.

Today’s XC60 has other attributes, suggesting that Volvo’s semi-autonomous safety features are at a point where Volvo is happy with them, given the brand’s stated goals of ensuring no fatalities or serious injury to anyone in a new Volvo.

The plug-in hybrid Recharge version sits at the top of the XC60’s four-strong model range in terms of specification, power, torque, emissions and efficiency, this last demonstrated by the XC60’s 81km battery-only range, about one and a half times more than the average day’s drive requires.  

And with the characteristically humble nature of all Volvo’s, the drive experience is relaxingly serene.

Part of this is down to the air suspension with the active chassis system.

This adjusts shock absorbers and ride height as required to both contend with the weight of the vehicle and reduce the high centre of gravity normally associated with SUVs, enabling a smoother, ‘flatter’ ride with minimised body roll.

Core to the XC60 is of course, occupant safety and Volvo’s engineers have upgraded the ADAS system to complement a vast array of features too numerous to list.

I will say this however: those canny engineers have found a way to encourage safe driving habits by fixing the ‘nut behind the wheel’.

I was surprised to discover at the end of my week with the XC60 that I had been driving in such a manner that I didn’t want my driving skills to reflect poorly on the vehicle.

Every directional change was indicated, three to five second following distances were measured, speed restrictions in every situation adhered to – people should learn to drive in Volvos to get the right habits ingrained.  

At all times, I found the most comfortable driving position was with both hands on the wheel at the old-school 10 to 2 position, which felt completely natural, comfortable and had me in complete and safe control of the vehicle, just as I suspect Volvo’s safety-focused engineers intended. 

I consider this to be a more relevant contribution from the 2022 XC60 than the advances made by Volvo in consideration of connectivity.

You may feel differently, on learning the XC60 is the first Volvo to have next generation Android-powered infotainment system with Google apps (Google Maps, Google Assistant and Google Play) along with digital services built in.

I will admit, “Hey Google (insert your command here)” does so much in the XC60 Recharge, you’ll wonder why other manufacturers are being so slow to integrate it.

Again, it contributes to the relaxed and safe drive experience I keep harping on about and which is, ultimately, what I am convinced the Volvo XC60 is all about.